4.

Zalatna
We are back in Transylvania again, this time down in its Southwestern Region, in Alsó-Fehér County, where the majority of the population was Romanian even in the 19th Century.

Zalatna (now Zlatna) was a picturesque village situated in a valley, at the confluence of the Ampoi River with the Valtori creek, 36 km northwest of Gyulafehérvár, now Alba Julia. It was an important gold mining center during Roman times, recognized as a municipium under the name Ampellum. Zalatna (the name is derived from the Slavic word for gold) is first mentioned under this name in a document dating from 1347. In 1387 it was awarded town status. During 1619-1620 Gábor Bethlen, the Ruling Prince of Transylvania, invited German and Slovak gold miners there. After a period of decay, the town was degraded to village status; it regained its town status only in 1968.

József Ábrahám lived there with his family. He was a strictly orthodox Jew who kept all the rules of the religion. He was also a renowned Talmudist who received recognition from three famous rabbis. When he was called to the Torah, they pronounced his name repeating the words “Morene rav” three times, to acknowledge this recognition. Cvi Hersele Friedmann (1808-1874), the famous “Miracle Rabbi” of Olaszliszka, said that if he had a tenth of József’s knowledge, he would have been the most famous rabbi in the world. József was born in Nagyilonda (now Ileanda Mare, in Northern Transylvania, very close to Szilágy County - what a coincidence! - and quite far from Zalatna) in 1850. His parents were Antschel (Ancsel) Ábrahám József Ábrahám and Sára Mózes. It is possible that his last name was not Ábrahám but József or Ancsel. At the time of his birth, registration was carried out by the synagogues and there were no strict rules about writing the last names first or last.
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According to his death certificate, his father’s name was József Antschel. This is how it happened that the last names of his brothers were Ábrahám, József, and Ancsel, respectively. He married Róza Mandel (1855-1935), a petite but strong girl in Kápolnokmonostor (now Copalnik Manastur) on February 3, 1874. Her parents were Hirsch Mandel and Berta Péterffi (judging from the name, her mother was not Jewish) but as we see from the two attached domicile registration forms, her mother could also be Hani Mózes. Who knows?

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One of József’s nephews, József Ancsel became a textile wholesaler. His daughter was Éva Ancsel, the famous and wonderful philosopher and psychologist. Her writings are full of wisdom. The family rented a “regale” (tavern) from the local landowner. As József was occupied with his prayers and studies almost 24 hours a day, the tavern was run by his wife. She managed to keep order in the tavern. When the big drunken Romanian lads started to kick up a row, she threw them out and they obeyed her. The family later moved to Sarkad (Bihar County, at today’s border with Romania), then to Budapest where József worked as a luggage porter, then as a doorman at Mátyás Square 9. He smoked pipes and developed lip cancer that killed him on March 2, 1917. The holy man was happily smoking his pipe, praying and studying until his last day. (According to the Jewish religion, studying is appreciated by God as much as praying.) His grave is in the Budapest Jewish cemetery. It is surrounded by an iron fence.

József’s death certificate

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In Budapest Róza lived in the 8th District (Kálvária Square 19 until 1921, Práter Street 68 from 1921 to 1929), then in Mátyásföld with Rezső’s family. She worked at one of the big markets (Garay Piac) selling geese. She lived to be 80 and died in 1935. They had seven children. Szeréna was the oldest. She was a very beautiful girl. When a cabinet minister visited Gyulafehérvár and a ball was organized in his honor, he would only dance with Szeréna. She married a very strange man by the name of Igyártó. He made his living as an agent of big wine merchants and publishing houses. He had his own carriage and visited rich landowners and merchants, trying to sell Ábrahám Józsefné them wine and books. It happened Mandel Róza sometimes that he lost his carriage at cards and came home by train. He also invented a liver paste that became quite popular and brought him some wealth. He was a despot. At dinner he himself distributed the meal among his wife and children. He was extremely stingy. If he noticed that a waiter had cheated him by several pennies, he went back to the restaurant and raised a scandal. He was diabetic and suffered a terrible death: his legs were amputated in pieces before he died. They had many children. One of them, Sára, married an illegal communist, Nándor Lichtmann, with whom they emigrated to France, then to the island of Guadeloupe (a French colony) where Nándor became the leader of the local Communist Party. Rudolf (Rezső in Hungarian) was born on December 18, 1882. He was the most important person in my life. He played a crucial, definitive role during my childhood, adolescence, and then all the time up to this moment (I am 70 years old when I write this). His first name was the same as that of the popular Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Emperor Franz-Joseph married his own cousin, the exceptionally beautiful Bavarian Duchess Elizabeth (Erzsébet) in 1853 when she was only 15 years old. (He originally courted her older sister but fell in love with the younger one.) Erzsébet (nicknamed Sissy) was very much liked in Hungary. Their son, Crown Prince Rudolf killed himself and his mistress, Baroness
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Maria Vetsera in Mayerling in 1889. Erzsébet was assassinated in 1898. These deaths were the beginning of the end of the AustroHungarian Monarchy.

Ida married young and soon became a widow. Then she married again and went to Rio de Janeiro with her husband. She wrote some letters to her family, then the letters stopped, and she

Rezső‘s birth certificate disappeared without a trace. Margit was next. She worked at the Garay Market with her mother. Her husband’s name was József Gróf. They had three children. Erzsébet (Bözsi, 1911), Irén (1913) and József (Józsi). Bözsi married her cousin from the Mandel family. Irén’s husband was Hermann Tabák, a “polisi” (Polish) Jew from the Carpathian

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Mountains. He was a shrewd businessman who helped to develop a successful goose trade for the family. Józsi became a technician. Emilia (Mili) married a shoemaker, Béla Friedman, who was a very religious man. He did not want to go to war in 1914. To avoid this, he pretended that his legs were paralyzed. He was so successful that after a while he really could not stand up from his wheelchair. Mili worked diligently in the Garay Market as another goose trader. They had four children: Zoltán (Zoli, 1905), László (Laci, June 30, 1908), Rózsa (1910), and Erzsébet. This was the most religious part of the family. Zoli became a technician. He married a girl who forgot to tell him until after the wedding that she already had a child. They divorced and Zoli married again. His wife, Ibi, was a quiet and rather full-figured woman. Laci wanted to become a doctor but he was not admitted to the university because of Numerus Clausus, the law that severely limited the number of Jews to be admitted to Hungarian universities. His parents sent him to Bologna. Interestingly, a Jew could be a student in Fascist Italy but not in Horthy’s Hungary! After his first year he came home for vacation. He was helping his mother to sell geese when a woman fainted in the market. There was no doctor available, so they asked him to help. He looked at the woman and declared: “Corpse!” The corpse soon regained consciousness and walked home. In spite of this, five years later Laci graduated from the University of Bologna as a doctor. Cecilia (Cili) was born in Rákoskeresztur (a suburb of Budapest where the Jewish cemetery is situated) on September 12, 1886. She married Márton Glantz. They settled down in Rákosszentmihály (now in the 16th District of Budapest). They had two children: Klára and Jenő. Klára was a very beautiful, sensual and playful girl. Jenő was mentally retarded. On the other hand, he played chess against himself and could multiply five-digit numbers instantaneously in his head. When he was asked about his plans for the future, he said: “I’ll make my living from my parents.” Izidor (Izsó) was the youngest (he was born in Sarkad in 1892). He was a wild boy. He and his friends sometimes got into trouble with the police. They spoke to each other in a strange slang. Once Izsó noticed a policeman approaching. He shouted to his friend: “Valack, strüy,” which meant: “get away.” He became a feather and down merchant.
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One of their cousins was a breathtakingly beautiful illiterate girl. Her family lived up in the snow-covered mountains where there was no school. She married a sergeant of the Austro-Hungarian Army. They moved to Kolozsvár (now Cluj) where she went to school. She loved learning so much that she received fellowships to continue her studies in Budapest, Vienna, and Paris. Thirty years later she was a full professor at the Sorbonne. There were other relatives living up in the high mountains. Rezső once went to visit one of them. It took him two days to get there with the help of the mountain shepherds. These people spent many months alone with their herds of sheep. When they felt a need for communication, they went up to the peak and yelled out “ha-hoho!” Other “ha-ho-ho” cries echoed from the nearby mountains. That was the conversation. Their vocabulary was limited to no more than 200 Romanian words anyway, so the communication was quite meaningful. Two cousins, Cecilia and Bella emigrated to America. Bella married a rich furniture merchant in Detroit. Her sister lived in California and also married a wealthy man. When Rezső was born, there was no electricity yet in Zalatna. He heard the first Hungarian word at the age of five (at home they spoke Yiddish and in the village they spoke Romanian). He attended a Jewish elementary school in Sarkad. He was a good student but his grades were not the best. There were two reasons for that. His teacher, Salamon Steiner, believed that a Jewish boy had to work twice as hard as a gentile to achieve the same success. Mr. Steiner was also a perfectionist who once said: “Nobody deserves an A. If you know the material as well as I do, then you get a B. If not, your best grade is a C.” For a reason unknown to me, Rezső was exempt from physical education in this school.

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Rezső‘s certificate from the second grade of the Sarkad Elementary School (1890). His religion is stated as “the religion of Moses.” He went to middle school in Nagyszalonta (now Salonta), a small town near Nagyvárad (now Oradea) where the great Hungarian poet, János Arany was born.

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Rezső‘s certificate from the fifth grade of the Nagyszalonta Middle School (1893). His written tests are “untidy.” He graduated from the 10th grade of the Budapest 8th District Middle School (Német Street 44) in 1899.

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Rezső‘s certificate from the seventh grade of the Budapest 8th District Middle School (1896).This is the first official document where his first name is mentioned as Rezső.

Rezső‘s final certificate from the tenth grade of the Budapest 8th District Middle School (1899)
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During the last two years of his studies he was tutoring younger students. According to the affidavit signed by the director of the school, his efforts were quite successful. Therefore, the director highly recommended “this diligent, well-behaved, modest youth as a private tutor.”

The Director’s letter of recommendation This is how Rezső’s teaching career began. In the meantime, he tried to find himself in other directions, too. Among other things, he applied for a position at a customs office. The sergeant who took his
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application asked him: “Have you tried other things?“ “Yes,“ he replied. “And nothing turned out well?“ “Nothing.“ “Have you tried to drown yourself in the Danube?“ “Not yet.“ “Well, try that and if you don’t succeed even there, then become a customs officer.“ From September 1, 1901 to June 19, 1904 he worked as a teacher at the Jewish Community of Csákvár (a village near Székesfehérvár). He also worked as a private tutor of rich people’s children in Sárosd, Györőcsike, Bogya, Bana, etc. I am in possession of several letters of recommendation from the parents of his students.

Affidavit from the Jewish Community of Csákvár (1904)

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A letter from some devoted and satisfied students (1905) At the same time he was a correspondence-course student at the Teachers’ School in Csurgó (Somogy County).

Rezső‘s certificate from the Teachers’ School in Csurgó (1905)

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His grades (especially singing and music) were not very good, but he graduated as a certified elementary school teacher on December 22, 1906.

Rezső is a certified elementary school teacher (1906)

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He was drafted the same year but was found unfit for military service. He continued to work as a private tutor for another year.

The call to draft

Unfit for military service

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From September 1, 1907 to June 23, 1908 he taught at the Jewish Community School in Őcsény (Tolna County). His record of service was signed by a certain Ignátz Deutsch.

Testimonial of Service to the Jewish Community of Őcsény. One of the signers is Deutsch Ignátz. In September 1909, we find him at the elementary school of a nearby little town, Simontornya.

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Rezső is the teacher in Simontornya Although he was running the elementary school there alone, he was issued a Certificate of Poverty. He signed the following oath: “I, Rezső Ábrahám, ordinary teacher, swear by the living God that I will manifest a steadfast and unweavering faithfulness to His Majesty my Apostolic King, to my Hungarian Fatherland, and its constitution. I will obey the sanctified laws and lawful customs of the country. I will always conscientiously, faithfully, and punctually carry out the lawful orders of the national authorities and the duties of my office as a teacher. I will educate the youth entrusted to my care in the love of the Hungarian Fatherland. So help me God!“

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So help me God! Such was the life of an elementary school teacher around the turn of the 20th century. These were the so called “happy years of peace” in Hungary under the reign of the Apostolic Emperor and King Franz Joseph I. The prime ministers were as follows: • Kálmán Tisza (20 October 1875 – 13 March 1890) • Count Gyula Szapáry (13 March 1890 – 17 November 1892) • Sándor Wekerle (17 November 1892 – 1 January 1895) • Baron Dezső Bánffy (14 January 1895 – 26 February 1899) • Kálmán Széll (26 February 1899 – 27 June 1903) • Count Károly Khuen-Héderváry (27 June – 3 November 1903) • Count István Tisza (3 November 1903 – 18 June 1905) • Baron Géza Fejérváry (18 June 1905 – 8 April 1906) • Sándor Wekerle (8 April 1906 – 17 January 1910)
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Everything seemed to be all right. The mighty Austro-Hungarian Empire was one of the pillars of stability in Europe. Even the Balkans were behaving appropriately. Nikita, King of Montenegro, received a regular monthly allowance from Franz Joseph. Ferenc Kossuth (1841-1914), son of Lajos Kossuth, the leader of the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, was back in Hungary. Newspapers appeared one after the other: Pesti Hírlap, Budapesti Hírlap, Kis Újság, Magyarország, Pesti Napló, Budapesti Napló, Világ, Friss Újság, Esti Újság, Kis Újság, Vasárnapi Újság, Pester Lloyd, Az Est, A Nap, etc.

Newsboys were shouting on the streets: “Betörés a Deák téren! Egy krajcár, csak egy krajcár!” Magazines like Magyar Salon, A Hét, Az Én Újságom, Magyar Lányok, Tolnai Világlapja, were also available. Satirical magazines Bolond Istók and Borsszem Jankó were followed by more risqué publications: Pikáns Lapok, Magyar Figaro, and Fidibusz. I used to have all the 1899 issues of Magyar Figaro. (They
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have disappeared together with the Box). I still remember some of the anecdotes and advertisements (see the illustrations below showing Anna Csillag with her 185 centimeter long Loreley hair and the Lada bosom holder protected by 14 “world patents”). The frontalview drawings of full-figured naked women like the female orchestra in the Bodega are very vivid in my memory. There was also a picture of a couple watching a painting of a naked plump woman in a fur coat in a museum. “See?” says the wife, “I would like such a fur coat!” “And I would like such a wife!” answers the husband with a sigh.

Women had wide hips and big buttocks in those days. Those who did not pretended that they did by padding their long dresses with pillows. The bony supermodels of today would have been considered sick then.

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Fashion for full-figured women

All for ladies!

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Choose one for your wife

Bathroom
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On the beach It is interesting that all these magazines were published at the time of Victorian morals when even the legs of a table were considered obscene. Yes, but Siegmund Freud also worked at this time and Dr. Richard von Krafft-Ebing published his Psychopathia Sexualis, let alone Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s famous Venus in Furs. A poet under the pseudonym of Árpád Lőwy spread his pornographic poems copied by hand. He was also slightly antiSemitic. He claimed that his pseudonym was the result of the fact that although a substantial part of Hungary’s population was Árpád (i.e. Hungarian) but many others were Lőwy (i. e. Jewish): Irodalmunkban, - büszkén mondom Nincs több olyan tipikus költő, Mint Lőwy Árpád, akit ismer, Immár egy egész emberöltő. Nincs, ki a magyar géniusznak Hívebb tolmácsa volna, mint ő, Bár meglehet, hogy van nálánál Nem egy kiválóbb magyar költő. De ő nevében egyesíti A fajt, amelyre néz a Kárpát, Hiszen fajunknak fele Lőwy, A másik fele pedig Árpád.
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He ignored the fact that Hungary was a multinational country. Half of her population was not Hungarian but Slovak, Serb, Croatian, Romanian, etc. (This was the justification for the country’s dismemberment by the Trianon Treaty.) Jews fared relatively well in those days. They were integral parts of Hungarian society and culture. Tivadar (Theodor) Herzl (1860-1904), the founder of the worldwide Zionist movement, was born in Pest. (Budapest was formed only in 1873 by the union of three cities: Buda, Pest, and Óbuda.) József Kiss (1843-1921), the great Jewish poet, wrote sad poems like this: Simon zsidóéknál minden esztendőbe’ Kis deszkakoporsót tesznek le a földbe, Kis deszkakoporsó – alig-alig rőfnyi, Szegény kicsi féreg, nem tudott megnőni! “Simi” Krausz (1876-1938), the famous and very muscular Jewish banker, was the bugaboo of the anti-Semites. Once he was sitting in a candy shop sipping his coffee when a group of young army officers came to the shop, sat down, and started to talk about Jews in derogatory terms. Simi broke a piece off his marble table, wrote his name on it, and asked the waiter to give it to the officers. As soon as they received the ominous signature, they asked for their check, paid, and quietly left. On the other hand, fifteen Jews were put on trial in 1882, accused of killing a 14-year-old Christian peasant girl for use in a Jewish religious ritual in Tiszaeszlár. The accused were defended by Károly Eötvös and acquitted, but the trial became a major international scandal and also a flashpoint for Hungarian antiSemitism. The press was relatively free. Frivolous anecdotes like this appeared regularly: Prime Minister Széll arrives at the railroad station late. His train is already moving. A railroader recognizes him and shouts with a German accent: “Fosson, Kegyelmes Úr, fosson!” (Run, Your Excellency, run!) The train moves faster and Széll gives up: “Most már foshatok!” (Now I can shit.) – This is an example of a Hungarian play on words that is impossible to translate to any other language, especially English. Nyugat (West) was a magazine started by Ernő Osvát, Miksa
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Fenyő, and Ignotus (Hugó Veigelsberg) in 1908. The great writers and poets of this era, Endre Ady, Mihály Babits, Frigyes Karinthy, Gyula Juhász, Margit Kaffka, Dezső Kosztolányi, Árpád Tóth, Zsigmond Móricz, Gyula Krúdy, Jenő Heltai, Milán Füst, and many others published in this magazine. It was at the forefront of Hungarian culture for 34 years.

The editors and authors of Nyugat met regularly in the beautiful Café New York. Some of them spent the whole day there. The Café subscribed to 400 newspapers and magazines. The regulars hotly debated the news. Hungarian cities were full of cafés. Most of them had live music in the evening. Womanizers sang the popular song: Asszonykám, adj egy kis kimenőt, hadd zülljek éppúgy, mint azelőtt. Az egyik kocsmából a másik kocsmába, törzskávéházamból zenés kávéházba. Megjövök éjfélre, háromra, vagy négyre, hadd zülljek éppúgy, mint azelőtt.

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Theaters flourished. They presented plays from all over the world. In 1900, Sári Fedák (18791955) burst into the Hungarian operetta as its unquestioned prima donna. And what operetta! Ferenc Lehár, Imre Kálmán, Jenő Huszka, Viktor Jakobi, Béla Zerkovitz composed operettas that millions of people enjoy even now, a century later.

Fedák Sári

A poster advertising a play by Maxim Gorky presented by the Thalia Society in 1907 Sándor Rott (1868-1942) was Rezső’s favorite entertainer. The “little Rott” was running a vaudeville theatre (Műszínkör) in the City
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Hungary celebrated its Millennium (the thousandth anniversary of the country’s founding) in 1896. For the occasion, Budapest was rebuilt by Baron Frigyes Podmaniczky (1824-1907). The largest Parliament building on the Continent, one of the most beautiful opera houses, and one of the finest synagogues in the world were built there.

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Sugár út in 1896. On the left is the Opera House. Soon thereafter the avenue was renamed Andrássy út, to commemorate Count Gyula Andrássy (1823-1890), the first prime minister of Hungary after the Compromise with Austria in 1867. During Communism it was first called Sztálin út, then Népköztársaság útja (Avenue of the People’s Republic). Now it is Andrássy út again.

Ferenciek Square in 1902
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The main staircase of the House Budapest Opera House

Inside the Budapest Opera

The Dohány Synagogue

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The new Erzsébet Bridge in 1903. Like all the other bridges on the Danube in Budapest, it was blown up by the Nazis in 1945. It is a pity that the Communists rebuilt it as a boring modernist edifice. Horse-drawn tramways were the basic transportation in the big cities, but they were later replaced by electric streetcars. The first subway on the European Continent was introduced in Budapest in 1896. Railroads were the sole inter-city transportation.

Oktogon Square in 1896. The small building on the left is the entrance to the subway.
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A railway schedule from 1904 By the turn of the century the automobile entered the picture. János Csonka built the first Hungarian car in 1905.

Esteemed Gentleman) or simply telling them that “it can be seen that you belong to the cream of society; therefore, I will give you a 10% discount.” On the other hand, some merchants were quite picky. There was a very rich aristocrat (I do not remember his name) who owned most of the land around Lake Balaton (the largest lake in Central Europe, with an area of about 600 km2). He liked to dress casually. Once he entered a very fashionable restaurant and ordered a cup of coffee. The waiter told him that they do not serve anybody who is not dressed formally. The count left and came back dressed in a tuxedo and carrying another tuxedo. He was greeted with reverence. Then he ordered a cauldron of coffee. When they brought it to him, he threw the tuxedo into the coffee, saying: “Here you are, my tuxedo, drink your coffee!”

Shops in Budapest in 1905

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A 50-korona banknote from 1902

Buy tungsten light bulbs from Tungsram!

The Margit Cream is the best cosmetics

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Life on Lake Balaton

Ladies enjoying the water

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Less fortunate ladies

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Good times Everything looked just fine. On the other hand, there were people who were not satisfied with the status quo. The relative peace, prosperity, tolerance, and liberalism of the Austro-Hungarian Empire were accompanied by economic inequality, harsh conditions for the industrial poor, political intrigue, corruption, and backwardness. The great poet, Endre Ady (1877-1919), was writing his angry poems about the “Hungarian wasteland,” the land of stupid gentry: Elvadult tájon gázolok: Ős, buja földön dudva, muhar. Ezt a vad mezőt ismerem, Ez a magyar Ugar. We have seen in the previous section that some people, like the

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Szilágyi family, were very poor. Many people emigrated to America. As Attila József wrote later: "Kitántorgott Amerikába másfél millió emberünk." Revolutionary students chanted slogans like this, denouncing and endorsing various politicians: Vesszen Tisza, Vesszen Csányi, Vesszen Báró Fejérváry, Éljen doktor Takács Zoltán! The Labor Movement reached Hungary, too. The Social Democratic Party was formed in 1890. Its newspaper, Népszava (Word of the People), was started in 1905 (it still exists today.)